Utility companies must post warning signs along utility lines to prevent commercial excavators from severing gas, electricity or other vital utility lines. Alternately, these signs may guide the utility companies when they unearth utility lines for replacement or repair. Warning signs also prevent private property owners from accidentally and hazardously, perhaps even fatally, digging up utility lines located on their property.
Twenty states, as well as the District of Columbia, have laws requiring the posting of notification signs after application of a commercial pesticide to a lawn or other grounds. According to a 2004 survey by the National Gardening Association, 66 million U.S. households used chemical pesticides and/or fertilizers on their lawns and gardens. In 2003 alone, homeowners spent $38 billion on landscaping activities.
These warning and notification signs are small placards or flags attached to the ends of wires or thin posts. The most common method of posting these signs is to grasp the placard or flag end and manually push the opposite end of the sign into the ground. Because these signs are relatively short, a worker must bend over to post them. In one day, a landscaping or utility worker may be required to place hundreds of signs.
One-half of all working Americans admit to have back pain symptoms each year. Frequent bending, as might be experienced by a worker planting numerous signs, can worsen these symptoms. Furthermore, other activities can also aggravate back pain. In gardening and landscaping, frequent bending to till or aerate soil, dig holes for planting or dig trenches also exacerbates back pain. This pain may cause loss of working hours for professional landscapers or make every day gardening activities difficult for hobbyists.
It is desirable to have an ergonomic tool that can install signs quickly and easily, and does not cause back pain.
It is also desirable to have an ergonomic tool for gardening, landscaping and lawn care activities, which does not require a user to bend.